The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians ( /ˌmɪkəˈsuki/, MIH-kə-SOO-kee) is a

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes are legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United States.

Native American tribe in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. Together with the

Seminole Nation of Oklahoma The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes are legally recognized b ...

and the

Seminole Tribe of Florida The Seminole Tribe of Florida is a List of federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Seminole tribe based in the U.S. state of Florida. Together with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, it is ...

, it is one of three federally recognized

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

entities. They are

Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the Southeastern United States and the no ...

. The Miccosukee, along with the Florida Seminole, speak the

Mikasuki language The Mikasuki, Hitchiti-Mikasuki, or Hitchiti language is a language or a pair of dialects or closely related languages that belong to the Muskogean languages family. , Mikasuki was spoken by around 290 people in southern Florida. Along with the C ...

, also spelled Miccosukee. The language has been referred to as a descendant of Hitchiti, a dialect of Hitchiti, and another term for Hitchiti.Hardy, Heather & Janine Scancarelli. (2005).
Native Languages of the Southeastern United States
'' Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, pp. 69-70 By the late 18th century, the British recorded the name Miccosukee, or Mikasuki, as designating a Hitchiti-speaking group centered on the town of

Miccosukee The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians ( /ˌmɪkəˈsuki/, MIH-kə-SOO-kee) is a federally recognized Native American tribe in the U.S. state of Florida. Together with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, it is one of ...

, a tribal town affiliated with the

Creek Confederacy The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsSpanish Florida Spanish Florida () was the first major European land-claim and attempted settlement-area in northern America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and th ...

. The Miccosukee were displaced during the

Seminole Wars The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

(1817–1858), a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminole people. During this period, many Seminoles were forced to relocate west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

, forming the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. A group of 200 or fewer Seminoles would stay in Florida. Descendants of those who remained in Florida were concentrated in the central and southern parts of the state. In the 1920s and 1930s, many Miccosukee established communities along the

Tamiami Trail The Tamiami Trail () is the southernmost of U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) from State Road 60 (SR 60) in Tampa to US 1 in Miami. A portion of the road also has the hidden designation of State Road 90 (SR 90). The north� ...

, a roadway completed in 1928 that ran through the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of flooded grasslands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the K ...

and connected the cities of

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

and

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. The Trail Indians, as they were called, generally kept more traditional practices. They were less interested in establishing formal relations with the federal government than the Cow Creek Seminoles to the north, who started moving to reservations around the same time. In 1953, the Florida Seminoles were identified for termination of federal status. The Seminole Tribe of Florida organized and gained federal recognition in 1957. Due to political differences, the Miccosukee formed a separate group and gained federal recognition in 1962. The Traditionals, or Independents, are Indians living in Florida who are unaffiliated with either tribe. The Traditionals predominantly live in Big Cypress Swamp.

History

18th and 19th centuries

Historically, the Miccosukees were a group that moved between present-day

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and northern Florida, with an extended range for hunting, fishing, and trading expeditions stretching from the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

to the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami a ...

. By the late 18th century, Miccosukee-speaking villages had been built in the

. According to scholarship published in collaboration with tribal elders, multiple groups of Indians joined together to form the core group that became the Miccosukee Tribe in northern Florida; these groups included elements of the Oconee, Hitchiti, Eufala, and Appalachicola tribal towns in southern Georgia and northern Florida. Under continuing encroachment from European, and later, American, settlers, many Miccosukee ancestors from different locations found themselves in northern Florida by the early 18th century. By the late 1830s, the dominant Indigenous language spoken in Florida was Mikasuki or other variants of Hitchiti. Muscogee was the dominant language within the Creek Confederacy, but Hitchiti had traveled with those who settled permanently in Florida and became the primary tongue, despite Muscogee often serving as the lingua franca throughout present-day Florida, Georgia, and Alabama whenever Indigenous people interacted with white people. For a time during the 19th century, the Miccosukee were part of the developing Seminole identity in Florida.Pritzker, p. 390. This identity formed in the early 19th century in Florida through a process of

ethnogenesis Ethnogenesis (; ) is the formation and development of an ethnic group. This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification. The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th-century neologism that was later introduce ...

. The Miccosukees and the Seminoles, however, not only continued to see themselves as separate entities within Florida but also saw themselves as wholly separate from the Creek Confederacy that continued to negotiate with Europeans and claimed influence over Alabama, Georgia, and northern Florida. In 1765, a group of Native Americans in Florida known as the "Alatchaway" (Alachua), a Muscogee-speaking group led by Cowkeeper (

Ahaya Ahaya (c. 1710 – 1783) was the first recorded chief of the Alachua band of the Seminole tribe. European-Americans called him Cowkeeper, as he held a very large herd of cattle. Ahaya was the chief of a town of Oconee people near the Chattahooche ...

) that was a precursor of the modern Florida Seminoles, rejected a meeting between the British and the Creeks at Picolata, the site of a Spanish fort about 13 miles west of

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

in northeastern Florida. Cowkeeper and his band of Indians negotiated their own agreement with the British in a separate meeting. The spring of 1787 marked the first time that a group specifically known as Seminoles attended the Lower Creeks' annual meeting. In the 1796

Treaty of Colerain The Treaty of Colerain was signed at St. Marys, Georgia in Camden County, Georgia, by Benjamin Hawkins, George Clymer, and Andrew Pickens for the United States and representatives of the Creek Nation, for whom Indian trader Langley Bryant served ...

, the Creek Confederacy agreed that all Creeks in Georgia and Florida would return runaway slaves to their white American owners, an agreement that the Native Americans in Florida disputed because the Creeks did not speak for those living in Florida. Prior to 1812, the Creek national council was denying treaty annuities to the Tribes in Florida. The Indigenous people in Florida were completely discrete groups from the Muscogee by 1818 at the latest, following

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

's invasion of Florida. The Miccosukees eventually joined with the Seminoles in defending their Florida homeland against encroaching white settlers during the 1820s. Despite the need for such an informal alliance, the Miccosukees maintained their separate identity within the tribes of Florida. During this time in particular, the U.S. government and white settlers in Florida often viewed the Miccosukee Indians and the Seminole Indians as a single entity. About 2,000 Upper Creeks, known as

Red Sticks Red Sticks (also Redsticks, Batons Rouges, or Red Clubs)—the name deriving from the red-painted war clubs of some Native American Creek—refers to an early 19th century traditionalist faction of Muscogee Creek people in the Southeastern Uni ...

, militant Muscogee-speaking Indians, joined the tribes in Florida after being defeated in the

Creek War The Creek War (also the Red Stick War or the Creek Civil War) was a regional conflict between opposing Native American factions, European powers, and the United States during the early 19th century. The Creek War began as a conflict within th ...

of 1813-1814. After this influx of people in the early 19th century, documented Indians in Florida numbered about 5,000. This entry of Muscogee-speaking Indians into Florida had the additional effect of pushing many Hitchiti-speaking (Miccosukee) people farther south. As early as 1827, and possibly earlier, Mikasuki-speaking Native Americans had a permanent presence in the Everglades. Although East and West Florida were under Spanish control at this time (1783-1821), U.S. forces under Andrew Jackson invaded Florida in 1817 under the pretext of retaliation for Indian raids against settlers in Georgia. The true reasons for invasion included pursuit of runaway slaves and the realization that Spain was too politically and militarily weak to protect Florida. In addition to the destruction of

Negro Fort Negro Fort was a short-lived fortification built by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812, in a remote part of what was at the time Spanish Florida. It was intended to support a never-realized British attack on the U.S. via its southwest b ...

on the

Apalachicola River The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately long, in the state of Florida. The river's large drainage basin, watershed, known as the ACF River Basin, Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint (ACF) River Basin, drains an area of approximately ...

by American forces in 1816, these events were the initial conflicts in the

First Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

. Florida became a

U.S. territory In the United States, a territory is any extent of region under the sovereign jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters (around islands or continental tracts). The United States asserts sovereign rights for ...

in 1821, and the American government soon increased pressure for removal against all Indians living in Florida. This was the period of numerous treaties between the U.S. and various bands of Indians living in Florida as white settlers increasingly pushed for more available land, and the government in Washington, D.C. sought to support those who wished to take advantage of settling the new territory. Treaties such as Moultrie Creek (1823) and Payne's Landing (1833) were agreements that attempted to aggregate the Native Americans in Florida into isolated tracts of land, first in central Florida, and later in southwestern and southeastern Florida. Despite the appearance of numerous agreements between the tribes of Florida and the U.S. government, these negotiations were never balanced between the parties involved because of the presence of the U.S. military at these negotiations and difficulties in translation and understanding. There also was never true representation of all of the Native Americans in Florida because the groups of men who represented the Indians during treaty negotiations did not represent all of the bands living in Florida at that time. Following the

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States president Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, ...

of 1830, the U.S. relocated several thousand Seminole and hundreds of

Black Seminoles The Black Seminoles, or Afro-Seminoles, are an ethnic group of mixed Native Americans in the United States, Native American and African American, African origin associated with the Seminole people in Florida and Oklahoma. They are mostly blood de ...

, who lived in close association as allies, west to the

(present-day Oklahoma). The U.S. government still believed that the Florida Seminoles were a part of the Creek Confederacy, and the American agents involved in relocation attempted to place the Florida Indians with land under the Creek administration. Eventually, the Florida Seminoles in Oklahoma gained their own reservation and federal recognition as the

. Those who remained in Florida fought against U.S. forces during the second and third

. Both of these conflicts resulted in groups of Indians being relocated to Indian Territory. The Second Seminole War began in 1835 after the Indians of Florida retaliated for repeated abuses by white settlers in Florida, including theft, violence, and illegal entry into Indian lands. One of the longest, most expensive, and most deadly conflicts between Native Americans and the U.S. military, the Second Seminole War is a nearly forgotten conflict that had an extraordinary impact on southeastern U.S. history, American military tactics, and modern development of the U.S. Navy. The Indians of Florida conducted a guerrilla-style war against a numerically superior and technologically advanced enemy. The result of the war was many more Indigenous people dead or deported but a U.S. failure at complete removal of Indians from Florida. By 1842, perhaps 300 Native Americans remained in Florida; more than 4,000 were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory between 1835 and 1842. The Miccosukee chief ''

Ar-pi-uck-i Abiaka, also known as Sam Jones, (c. 1781 – c. 1866) was a Seminole-Miccosukee chief, warrior, and shaman who fought against the United States during the Seminole Wars. He was born among the Miccosukee people of Georgia, who would migrate sout ...

'', also known as Sam Jones (Abiaki, Abiaka), proved an effective leader during the

Second Seminole War The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups of people collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Muscogee, Creek and Black Seminoles as well as oth ...

; his strategy of hiding the tribe on tree islands, or hammocks, in the Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades ensured that the ancestors of present-day Miccosukees and Seminoles remained in Florida. The Third Seminole War began in 1855 after a small band of Indians led by

Billy Bowlegs Holata Micco (a Muscogee name translated as Alligator Chief, also spelled ''Halpatter-Micco'', ''Halbutta Micco'', ''Halpuda Mikko''; known in English as Chief Billy Bowlegs or Billy Bolek; – 1859) was a leader of the Seminoles in Florida dur ...

(Holatta Micco) attacked American encampments in response to repeated harassment and destruction of property by U.S. military forces. The result of this conflict was the removal of Billy Bowlegs's band for Oklahoma, having accepted a monetary settlement. The sole remaining Indians in Florida in 1858 were those sheltering in the swamp and wetlands in the south. By 1858, perhaps 200 ancestors of the modern Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes remained in Florida. They survived by moving into central and southern Florida to take advantage of the topography of Big Cypress and the Everglades, which was largely unknown to the remainder of the U.S. The American Civil War during the 1860s meant that the U.S. let the Indigenous people in Florida live their lives as they saw fit as American military attention focused elsewhere.

20th century

From the end of the

Third Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

in 1858 until the 1920s, the Indigenous people in Florida lived their lives in Big Cypress and the

, intentionally isolated from interactions with white Floridians except for the occasional meeting for trade. Groups of Native Americans tended to gather in bigger camps until 1900, and then they began to separate into smaller groups in the face of increased development in Central and South Florida. The isolation of camps in South Florida began to end in the late 1920s with the construction of the

(U.S. 41). Construction of the Tamiami Trail as the route between Tampa and Miami concluded in 1928. This brought new forms of traffic through Big Cypress and the Everglades. Not long before the completion of the Trail, Florida outlawed hunting for alligator and fur-bearing animals. With traffic in the region increasing, various drainage and canal projects throughout Florida changing the water levels around the tree islands, and declining opportunities for economic stability, Indians began to relocate to sites along the Trail. Over a dozen camps, or villages, moved closer to the Trail between 1928 and 1938. From these sites, Miccosukee Indians sought to improve their economic situation by offering airboat tours of the Everglades, Indigenous artworks for sale, and other goods and services to tourists traveling across the state. Still viewed by many as Seminole Indians during this time, the Miccosukees who moved to live along the Trail also became known as the Trail Indians. The distinction between "Miccosukee" and "Seminole" began to grow as the former believed the latter were more willing to assimilate to the majority culture by moving onto designated

Indian reservations An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...

in Florida starting in the 1930s and 1940s. The federal and state governments persisted in treating the Indians of Florida as a unified people, eventually including a third group, known as Independents or Traditionals, who did not affiliate with either the Miccosukee or the Seminole groups. One issue that further divided the tribes in Florida was a small group of Seminoles filing with the

Indian Claims Commission The Indian Claims Commission (ICC) was a judicial relations arbiter between the United States federal government and Native American tribes. It was established under the Indian Claims Act of 1946 by the United States Congress to hear any longstandin ...

in 1950 to claim compensation for lands taken by the U.S. government. Many of the Miccosukees contended that they never reached an official peace with the U.S., and they wanted their land returned rather than financial compensation. The U.S. settlement of the claims with the Miccosukee and Seminole of Florida, as well as the Seminole Nation in Oklahoma, finally concluded in 1976; division of shares among the tribes took until 1990 to settle. Divisions between the Miccosukees and Seminoles peaked during the 1950s. Under the federal government's program of termination of recognition, it proposed terminating the U.S. recognition of the Florida Seminoles in 1953. The Miccosukee response was the Buckskin Declaration in 1954, which a Miccosukee delegation personally delivered to one of

President Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary ...

's aides. The declaration stated that the Trail Indians wanted nothing from the U.S. government; the Indians only wanted to be able to live their lives on the land as they always had. Meanwhile, the reservation Indians in Florida became known as the

after they developed a constitution and corporate charter to organize a government; they achieved federal recognition in 1957. The land claims and termination controversies heightened the distinction for the Miccosukee living near the Tamiami Trail. Unable to gain similar federal recognition of their own right to sovereignty, a group of Miccosukees, led by the young councilmember Buffalo Tiger (Heenehatche), visited Cuba in July 1959 during the brand-new Castro regime's celebration of the

26th of July Movement The 26 July Movement (; M-26-7) was a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization and later a political party led by Fidel Castro. The movement's name commemorates the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, part of an at ...

in Havana. This strategy was successful for the Miccosukees, as the U.S. government began negotiations upon the group's return to Florida. The Trail Indians gained federal recognition of their sovereignty in 1962 as the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida. Buffalo Tiger became the first chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe, and he continued to lead as chairman of the Miccosukee Business Council until 1985. The Miccosukee Tribe continued to pursue increased tribal sovereignty. On May 4, 1971, the Miccosukee Corporation assumed operational responsibility for all of the programs formerly administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These programs included healthcare, law enforcement, and education, among others. The Miccosukee Tribe was the first Native American tribe in the U.S. to achieve this distinction by taking advantage of the

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

administration's stated preference in 1970 for

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

among Indigenous tribes. This preference for self-determination was later enshrined as the

Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (Public Law 93-638) authorized the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and some other government agencies to enter into contracts with, ...

of 1975.

Twenty-first Century

The tribe today occupies several reservations in southern Florida, collectively known as the Miccosukee Indian Reservations.Mahon (1996), pp. 202–204 The most populous area is known as the Miccosukee Reserved Area (MRA) or the Tamiami Trail Reservation, located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Miami. The largest land section is an 87,000-acre (352 square kilometers) reservation on the northern border of

Everglades National Park Everglades National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the Un ...

, known as the

Alligator Alley Interstate 75 (I-75) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from the Hialeah– Miami Lakes border, a few miles northwest of Miami, to Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I-75 begins its national northward ...

Reservation, which includes 20,000 acres (81 square kilometers) of developable land, much of which the Miccosukee Tribe uses for a cattle grazing lease, and nearly 55,000 acres (223 square kilometers) of wetlands. The Miccosukee Tribe provides use permits for non-Natives to use some of the wetlands for hunting camps. The tribe also controls about 200,000 acres (810 square kilometers) of wetlands, most under a perpetual lease made in 1983 with the

State of Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and located in the

South Florida Water Management District The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is a regional governmental district that oversees water resources from Orlando to the Florida Keys. The mission of the SFWMD is to manage and protect water resources by balancing and improving ...

's Water Conservation Area 3A South.ItemID=WE43&iPin=ENAIT516&SingleRecord=Alexander True Ewen and Jeffrey Wollock. "Tiger, William Buffalo"
''Encyclopedia of the American Indian in the Twentieth Century,'' New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2014. American Indian History Online. Facts On File, Inc. (accessed August 14, 2014) Miccosukees may use "this land for the purpose of hunting, fishing, frogging, and

subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occu ...

to carry on the traditional Miccosukee way of life.""Tribe: Reservation areas"
, Miccosukee Tribe website In 1990, the tribe opened Miccosukee Indian Bingo & Gaming to generate revenue for tribal citizens and facilitate developing new opportunities for tribal citizens. Following the great success of the bingo hall, the tribe opened the 302-room Miccosukee Resort & Gaming Facility, now called the Miccosukee Casino & Resort, in 1999, which includes gaming facilities, entertainment venues, bingo, and numerous restaurants and other amenities. The revenue from this enterprise has supported economic development and improvements to education and welfare. Most Miccosukees today reside in the modern housing on the MRA along a single road known as Old Tamiami Trail or an extension to the west known as Loop Road. Some tribal citizens live farther west along Tamiami Trail in traditional clan camps in Big Cypress, Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, and Collier-Seminole State Park. Some Miccosukees live in suburban Miami. Old Tamiami Trail is the center of tribal activities in the 21st century, and it contains all of the essential needs for the tribe, including residences, the school, the police department, the health clinic, recreational amenities, and the tribe's administration building.

Citizenship

The 1962 Constitution of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida initially emphasized admitting tribal citizens of at least half-Miccosukee ancestry. The tribe has a

matrilineal Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother's lineage, and which can involve the inheritan ...

system of kinship and inheritance. Children are considered to be born into their mother's

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

, from which they gain their status in the tribe. In this system, the mother's older brother is highly important in raising her her children, more than the biological father, especially for boys. The uncle introduces the boys to the men's groups of the clan and tribe.

Government

The Miccosukees have a written constitution, and all adult tribal citizens are part of the General Council, which manages the tribal services. The General Council elects officers to run the Business Council, which is led by a chairman. This system is "a combination of traditional tribal government and modern management." As of 2023, the current chairman is Talbert Cypress. The rest of the Business Council are Lucas K. Osceola, Kenneth H. Cypress, William J. Osceola, and Petties Osceola, Jr., serving respectively as Assistant Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary, and Lawmaker. Curtis E. Osceola serves the Tribe as the current chief of staff. Government administration is further divided into departments including Land Resources, Water Resources, and Fish & Wildlife. The Miccosukee Tribe operates its own police and court system. It also has a clinic, day care center, senior center, and Community Action Agency. The tribe's educational system spans from a Head Start preschool program through senior high school. Adult, vocational, and higher education programs are also available."Tribal Programs and Business"
, Miccosukee Tribe website

Business interests

The Miccosukee Tribe operates a gift shop, general store, service station, and the Miccosukee Indian Village Museum on the Tamiami Trail Reservation along U.S. 41. In addition to the

Miccosukee Resort & Gaming Miccosukee Casino & Resort is a 9-story resort and casino located in the western outskirts of Miami, Florida on the edge of the Everglades. It has a colored statue of a young Miccosukee boy outside the front entrance. It has been quoted to be "o ...

hotel in

Miami-Dade County, Florida Miami-Dade County () is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populous coun ...

, now known as the Miccosukee Casino & Resort, at the northwest corner of U.S. 41 and Krome Avenue, the Miccosukee Tribe also operates the Tobacco Shop on the southwest corner. The tribe owns and operates a gas station and service plaza on the Alligator Alley Reservation located on I-75, with a gas station casino of 8,500 square feet and 150 slot machines scheduled to open in November 2023. Past Miccosukee business interests have included sports sponsorship, extended to several teams in

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

, primarily Phoenix Racing and Billy Ballew Motorsports. These include the 2009

Aaron's 499 The Jack Link's 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The race is usually held in April or May. The 1997 event stands as the fastest NASCAR race to date ever run with an average s ...

winning

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

car driven by

Brad Keselowski Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, a te ...

, a

Camping World Camping World Holdings, Inc. is an American corporation specializing in selling recreational vehicles (RVs), recreational vehicle parts, and recreational vehicle service. They also sell supplies for camping. The company has its headquarters in Li ...

truck driven by

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and par ...

, and a Nationwide car driven by

Mike Bliss Michael Duane Bliss (born April 5, 1965) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. A journeyman NASCAR competitor and the 2002 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, he has run in all three national series. Racing career Bliss ...

. The Miccosukee relationship with NASCAR dates to 2002, and it ended prior to the start of the 2010 season.

Museum

The Miccosukee Indian Village Museum opened in 1983. The museum offers to its visitors a variety of artistic expressions such as native paintings, hand crafts, and photographs. Additionally, it is possible to find some artifacts such as cooking utensils that are also on display. The Museum is located in 41 Tamiami Trail, Miami, FL, 33131.

Education

The

Miccosukee Indian School Miccosukee Indian School is a K-12 tribal school in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, with a Miami postal address. It is affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). It is located along the Tamiami Trail. Clippingfrom Newspap ...

is the tribal school. The Bureau of Indian Affairs established the school in 1962, and the tribe took over administration operations in 1971. The Miccosukee educational system offers a Head Start Preschool Program and kindergarten through 12 grade classes as well as vocational and other higher education programs. The school's vision statement reads: "To empower every student to reach their full academic potential while being productive members of a bilingual and bicultural society. We are dedicated to serve, inspire, and encourage our students with the understanding that the culture and traditions of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, along with a rigorous curriculum, are strengths upon which they can build personal, social, and academic success in the classroom and beyond."

Notable Miccosukee

* Kinhagee, (c. 1750–c. 1819), the last chief of the Creek of

Miccosukee, Florida Miccosukee is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in northeastern Leon County, Florida, United States. The population was 383 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Tallahassee metropolitan area. It is l ...

, who was defeated in battle in 1818 by U.S. forces commanded by General

. Later Kinhagee's people migrated south, maintaining their local village name Miccosukee as the name of the tribe. *Capechimico, Miccosukee war chief, First Seminole War. *Miccopotokee, Miccosukee leader, Second Seminole War. *

Thlocklo Tustenuggee Thlocklo Tustenuggee (also known as Thlocko, Thlocco, and Tiger Tail) was one of the most prominent Seminole leaders in the Second Seminole War. He spoke English fluently, and also spoke Muscogee. Tustenuggee was one of the three leaders of the ...

(Tiger Tail), (d. 1843) Miccosukee leader, Second Seminole War. *

(Abiaki, Abiaka, Sam Jones) (c. 1781–c. 1864), Miccosukee war chief and medicine man, Second Seminole War. *The Prophet (Otulke-thloco), Miccosukee war chief, Second Seminole War. *Ingraham Billy, Miccosukee medicine man. *William McKinley Osceola, Miccosukee Trail Indian. * Buffalo Tiger (''Heenehatche''), (1920–2015), first chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, led initiatives for

Harry A. Kersey Jr., "Buffalo Tiger, Bobo Dean, and the "Young Turks": A Miccosukee Prelude to the 1975 Indian Self-Determination Act"
''American Indian Culture and Research Journal'', Volume 29, Number 1 / 2005, ISSN 0161-6463 (Print)

Notes

References

*Buker, George E. ''Swamp Sailors in the Second Seminole War''. Gainesville: Library Press@UF, Reissued 2017. First published 1997 by University Press of Florida (Gainesville). Page references are to the 2017 edition. *Coe, Charles H. ''Red Patriots: The Story of the Seminoles''. N.p.: Leopold Classic Library, n.d. First published 1898 by The Editor Publishing Company (Cincinnati). Page references are to the n.d. edition. *Goss, James A. ''Usual and Customary Use and Occupancy by the Miccosukee and Seminole Indians in Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida''. Atlanta, GA: National Park Service and Texas Tech University, 1995. *Kersey, Jr., Harry A. ''Pelts, Plumes, and Hides: White Traders among the Seminole Indians 1870–1930''. Gainesville: The University Presses of Florida, 1975. *Kersey, Jr., Harry A. "The Florida Seminole Land Claims Case, 1950-1990." ''Florida Historical Quarterly'' 72, no. 1 (1993): 35-55. *Mahon, John K. ''History of the Second Seminole War, 1835–1842''. Gainesville: Library Press@UF, Reissued 2017. First published 1967 by University of Florida Press (Gainesville). Page references are to the 2017 edition. *Mahon, John K., and Brent R. Weisman. "Florida's Seminole and Miccosukee Peoples." In ''The New History of Florida'', edited by Michael Gannon, 183-206. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996. *Milanich, Jerald T. ''Florida's Indians from Ancient Times to the Present''. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998. *Pritzker, Barry. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. London: Oxford University Press, 2000. *Saunt, Claudio. ''A New Order of Things: Property, Power, and the Transformation of the Creek Indians, 1733-1816''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. *Sturtevant, William C., and Jessica R. Cattelino. "Florida Seminole and Miccosukee." In ''Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 14: Southeast'', edited by Raymond D. Fogelson, 429-49. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. *Tanner, Helen Hornbeck. "Pipesmoke and Muskets: Florida Indian Intrigues of the Revolutionary Era." In ''Eighteenth-Century Florida and its Borderlands'', edited by Samuel Proctor, 13-39. Gainesville: The University Presses of Florida, 1975. *Tiger, Buffalo, and Harry A. Kersey, Jr. ''Buffalo Tiger: A Life in the Everglades.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002. *Weisman, Brent Richards. ''Unconquered People: Florida's Seminole and Miccosukee Indians''. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1999. *West, Patsy. "Abiaka, or Sam Jones, in Context: The Miccosukee Ethnogenesis through the Third Seminole War." ''Florida Historical Quarterly'' 93, no. 3 (2015): 366-410.

External links

Miccosukee Tribe
official website
Miccosukee Resort & Gaming
{{authority control Federally recognized tribes in the United States Native American tribes in Florida Muskogean tribes